The Pew Centre for Global Climate Change has released its report "Race to the Top: The Expanding Role of US State Renewable Standards".  In the report, The Michigan-based think-tank examines the role of individual states in developing 'renewable portfolio standards' (RPS), which set goals for the proportion of energy from renewable sources.  The report gives as an example New York, with a 25% renewable target by 2013. 

 

In the absence of a comprehensive federal policy on renewables, the report points out that states have taken the initiative and implemented policies suited to their local areas.  However, this raises issues around co-operation between states as capacity rises, and ultimately between the states and the federal government once central policy becomes coherant and seeks to impose standards from the centre.

 

In praising the initiatives taken by individual states, the report points out the differences between the US's divergent RPS model and that of the EU.  In adopting the Kyoto Protocol, the EU had common targets at which to aim, and the result is common trans-national standards to which all countries work.  The report goes on to examine in detaill the policies of 5 US states: Texas, Massachusetts, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Colorado.

 

The report can be found here:

http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/RPSReportFinal%2Epdf 

 

David Smith, Singapore